Youth Services: Committees

Communities that Care

Communities That Care is a youth-focused strategy that helps communities promote the positive development of youth and prevent adolescent problem behaviors. It provides communities with a process to mobilize the community, identify risk and protective factors, and develop a comprehensive prevention plan.

In Lebanon County, this process

  • helps to identify specific youth problems in the community,
  • assists with funding of research-based programs to deal with these problems and
  • monitors the success of the programs.

Specific goals of Lebanon County Communities That Care include

  • reducing substance abuse among youth
  • reducing the high school dropout rate,
  • increasing academic performance and standardized test scores of county youth,
  • increasing positive parenting skills and
  • increasing community involvement in reducing substance use among youth.

In 1999, through the work of the Community Health Council, Lebanon County was accepted as a Communities That Care community, with the goal of planning and implementing a risk-focused prevention model for the youth of the county. A thorough review of indicators for risk factors and youth problem behaviors in the Lebanon County community was conducted by a special task force. The process of assessment included collecting and analyzing county data that related to risk factors and comparing this data to state and national statistics. Information was collected from several sources including schools, law enforcement, census, judicial systems, government agencies and health care sources. Utilizing this information, risk factors for Lebanon County were prioritized as:

  • Availability of Drugs
  • Family History of Behavior Problems
  • Family Management Problems
  • Favorable Parental Attitudes and Involvement in the Problem Behavior
  • Favorable Attitudes Toward the Problem Behavior

Research indicates that these risk factors place youth at risk for problem behaviors such as substance abuse, teen pregnancy, school dropout, violence and delinquency.

For more information about Lebanon County Communities That Care, please click here or contact Claire Lundberg, Community Mobilizer, Lebanon County Communities That Care.

Phone: 717-228-2150

Fax: 717-274-0023

Email: cjlund0303@yahoo.com

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